In monetary terms, the cost
of electricity is quite cheap. Prices vary between retailers (suppliers)
but is generally around 11 to 14 cents per
kWh for domestic customers in
mainland Australia. Looking at this another way, 1 cent will
purchase around 80 Wh of electricity at these prices. Some
retailers also offer Off
Peak electricity, which is
mainly used to heat water, at a reduced tariff.

In environmental terms, 1 kWh of electricity
generated at a coal fired power station releases around 1 kg of
Carbon-Dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. Over 90% of the
electricity generated in NSW is derived from coal.

Note:

I
generally refer to power consumption in terms of the
measured power consumed (ie in W, Wh & kWh) rather than in economic or
environmental terms, as some other sites do. Once the
actual power consumption is known though, it is a simple
task to convert to either of the others.

The main users
of electricity

The 'average' household in
Australia supposedly uses around 15 to 20 kWh of electricity per
day. This figure can vary widely depending on season, location,
number of people in the house, whether you use gas or some other
resource for any of your water heating, cooking or space heating
requirements, thermal properties of the house etc. Often this
figure can be reduced significantly once it is understand where
and why we use electricity, and make decisions based on this
information. The Household Power Summary page shows a table of average daily production
and usage of electricity in our house.

The following list
highlights the major users of electricity in an all-electricity
household.

Most household electricity meters can be
read by the householder. By taking regularly readings of
the accumulated kWh and having some idea of when high
consumption appliances like heaters, stoves and air-conditioners
were operating, it should be possible to work out where a
lot of the electricity consumed is going.
These accumulated kWh readings are what the regular
electricity bills are based on. On the bill you will
normally find previous and current meter readings, and
the dates the measurements were taken. An average for
that billing period can then be determined. A number of
retailers already calculate these averages and display
this in graphical format on their bills. The main
disadvantage with this method is that the bills tend to
be over a fairly long period - typically 1 to 3 months.
To get any meaningful data it would be more useful to
record the meter reading daily or weekly yourself. See
the section on reading electricity
meters for more info.